WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- For a change, the Los Angeles Clippers
showed there is resilience in youth, instead of just
inexperience.

Lamar Odom and rookie Keyon Dooling broke out in the fourth
quarter, leading the Clippers back from a 20-point second-half
deficit to pull out a 93-88 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Odom scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth period and Dooling
scored all his 12 and dished out five assists in the final 12
minutes, giving the Clippers their first victory after starting
their five-game road trip with three losses.

The Clippers were coming off a blowout in New York where they
fell behind early, just as they did tonight. Against the Knicks
they never recovered, losing 106-78.

But the Wizards could not keep the young Clippers down. The
21-year-old Odom hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter
while the 20-year-old Dooling took advantage of Washington on
the break, twice outrunning the Wizards for dunks and also
hitting once from long range.

"There's no player in the league at the age of 21 with as much
responsibility as Lamar," Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. "We
ask a lot of him for a franchise that is trying to rebuild and
turn the corner. He's still a kid, and sometimes we tend to
lose sight of that. He's maturing very fast, but he still has a
lot to learn and at his age, he can only get better with time."

Los Angeles trailed 66-46 when Richard Hamilton hit a running
jumper with 3:26 left in the third quarter. The Clippers
trailed 72-56 entering the fourth quarter before Odom and
Dooling came alive.

Odom hit just 3-of-11 from the field through the first three
quarters but was 5-of-6 in the fourth, including 3-of-3 from
3-point range. All five of Dooling's assists came on passes to
Odom, and when he wasn't passing, he was taking apart Rod
Strickland, a guard once known for being a good defender.

"He's hard to check one-on-one," Odom said of Dooling. "He made
some plays, some incredible moves to the hole. I'm always
telling him to be confident and that no one can guard him in
this league. Tonight he got to the hole and made some big plays
when we needed it."

Dooling's dunk with 3:55 left gave Los Angeles its first lead at
84-82. The Clippers didn't go ahead to stay until Odom flipped
in a left-handed running jumper with 1:06 left, making it 89-88.

Rod Strickland had a chance to put Washington on top again but
missed a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left. Odom hit from beyond
the arc with 17 seconds to go, putting the Clippers up, 92-88.

"We got some steals down the stretch and Keyon made some clutch
shots," Gentry said. "I know how they feel. We felt like this
after the Toronto game (a 104-95 overtime loss), so I can relate
to constantly coming up short."

"It's very embarrassing," Howard said. "We didn't get the stops
we were supposed to. We were playing like we were playing not
to lose instead of playing to win. There is no excuse for this.
Our effort was just horrible. It was embarrassing for this
team, for this organization and the city."

It didn't look like it would go that way in the first half. The
Wizards came out and hit their first six shots, opening up a
16-4 midway through the first quarter.

Already trailing 24-11 going into the second quarter, the
Clippers did not get credit for a field goal until Michael Smith
was charged with goaltending on a shot by Sean Rooks with 8:40
left in the half. Jeff McInnis's jumper with 7:55 to go was the
first shot by a Clipper that went through the net, but by that
time the Wizards were up 34-17.

Washington led by as much as 47-27 when Strickland hit 1-of-2
free throws with 34 seconds to go in the half.